Angraecum sesquipedale is a magnificent species from Madagascar. It grows on trees on coastal forests, often high up in trees to take advantage of the breeze and the light. It produces star-shaped night-fragrant white flowers with very long nectaries-- on large flowers the nectary can be a foot long!
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| First bloom for me! April 2024 |
Charles Darwin famously used it to theorize the co-evolution of interdependent species— he postulated that a flower that had such an unusually long nectary must be attracting a moth with an unusually long proboscus. Years later, the theoretical moth was discovered, Xanthopan morganii.
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| Xanthopan morganii |
When I started collecting orchids, I discovered Angraecum sesquipedale was available in cultivation, and was reported to be quite possible to grow in home conditions. I immediately found one to purchase, and when it arrived in the mail, it was much tinier than I expected. Cute, isn't it?
Not wanting to wait 4-5 years for a bloom, I found one that was a good price and a mature size.
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| June 2022 |
I potted it in a mix of bark and spagnum, and gave it good light and a breeze (it lived out on the porch all summer). It kept growing new leaves, but did not grow a single root, and it started slowly losing leaves. I was pretty sure I was going to lose it.
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| November 2022 |
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| November 2022 |
At this time, I was doing some reading about semi-hydro culture, and I had read another blogger describing success with angraecums and semi-hydro, so I gave it a go.
Within a couple weeks of being potted in semi-hydro, it started growing roots for the first time in my care.
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| December 2022 |
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| January 2023 |
A little over a year later, it produced a bud. Angraecum sesquipedale is also called the Star of Bethlehem orchid or the Christmas Orchid for its tendency to bloom in late December. Mine has missed the mark by quite a bit, but I forgive it!
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| February 10, 2024 |
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| March 27, 2024 |
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| March 27, 2024 |
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March 28, 2024
The bloom is green when it first opens. |
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March 31, 2024
A couple days later it is creamy white. At night there is a room-filling scent-- a jasmine-like perfume. |
It's now done blooming and back to growing long, fat roots and a new leaf. It currently lives in the grow tent next to the Cattleyas, so it gets very bright light. The top leaves are inches away from the lights. It has a spot right next to the fan, and I keep the saucer under it full of water. Other than to photograph it, it rarely gets moved.
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May 2024
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May 2024
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I now have a small collection of Angraecum sesquipedales. The seedling that I bought in 2022 is doing great since transitioning to semi-hydro over a year ago, and I recently bought an Angraecum Lemforde White Beauty, which is a hybrid of sesquipedale and magdelena. These are all grown in semi-hydro with pure leca and an integrated reservoir.
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